The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
Candide by Voltaire
1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Mad Magazine
The National Lampoon

Les Miserables (the unabridged version translated by Charles Wilbour)

I re-read it every few years.

on my life, other than the Bible. Others include:

Milton and Rose Freidman’s “Free to Choose”
Bork’s Slouching Towards Gomorrah and The Tempting of America
The Mind of the South by WJ Cash
Witness by Chambers
Reagan’s War
David Copperfield
How Ronald Reagan changed my life
Gone with the Wind
Crime and Punishment
Reagan: A Life in Letters

more later

In no particular order…

C.S. Lewis
Robert Heinlein
Will and Ariel Durant
Alan Drury
Fydor Dostoevsky

Main-Traveled Roads, Hamlin Garland

Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl

When perusing used book sales I purchase these and others to pass along to young readers.

Looking back, way back, I can remember jumping from The Hardy Boys to The Leatherstocking Tales and Dumas, who satisfied my interest in things both historical and military.

As I began to be interested in things political, I remember the impact of Witness, The Conscience of a Conservative, and Atlas Shrugged, in particular.

We turned our son, as a youngster, onto the Tarzan series — quite a jump from the Dick and Jane pap. He became, and remains, an avid reader.

Kidnapped and the further adventures of David Balfour by Robert Lewis Stevenson.

These books, and a few others from Raphael Sabatini instilled a deep love of adventure and history and got me reading up on (especially0 European History.

reading National Review was invaluable.

stories. And some of the early greats of Science Fiction, Heinlein, Asimov, and my favorite, A. E. van Vogt.

until I actually read them.
Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth – by M.K. Gandhi
Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha) – by M.K. Gandhi

It took a couple of readings with my sister to appreciate the ideas and the value of the gift.

My father was a history buff and I took to Civil War History as early as I can remember. Soemhow that led me to a local bookstore that sold “Soutehrn Partisan” magazine. It was “Southern Partisan” that did a piece about some guy named Russel Kirk. I was eighteen, when I finished Conservative Mind. Liberals in Amherst neve met a student as well armed as me. I shook many of my own professors up. Also:

- Maps, maps, maps. They are not really books. But my parents put two huge maps of the World and the US on my bedroom wall when I was a kid. I also had these cool globes. I think that sparked my curiosity and I was always fascinated by the regions and cultures and geography of the US.

- National Geogrphics were always cool. Kids and adults can rea them

- Time Life WWII series. My father had two sets lying around the house.

I am not sure if I got the title correctly, but it’s a novel about the society where people see everything in black and white colors only. One thing that struck my mind for a long time was a scene where a family had given birth to twins. Now, in this society, it was unacceptable for both of a twin to survive, so one had to be selected for, how should I put it mildly…termination. The main character, a boy, was given memories and able to experience colors for the first time in his life. I forgot the details, but this boy decided to flee. I also forgot most of major details of this novel, but this scene has always remained with me for a long time.

The other influential book was “Chocolate War.” I liked it, but at the end, it seemed that the more evil part of human nature still perv ailed, especially when you read about Archie and Virgil Society.

Lastly, of all books that influenced my life the most will always be the Bible. For it has shown me the true path of salvation through believing on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So, I would urge anybody who is reading this post to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, for there is NO OTHER salvation or name under the heaven that may save you from ETERNAL condemnation. Fear not anybody who is able to destroy your body, but fear whosoever is able to destroy BOTH your body and your soul. Believe on the name of Jesus Christ as your personal Savior! .

The influential:

Ender’s Game and its various sequels/spinoffs
The Fountainhead, and to a somewhat lesser extent Atlas Shrugged
Animal Farm
Watership Down
The Federalist Papers (although since I only read them in the last year influence is somewhat less meaningful)
Harry Potter, moreso over time and aging (as I initially took the conventional view that the first few books were lighter fare, but taking the series holistically that’s not quite true)

The important/notable/memorable (while not necessarily saying they weren’t influential, just perhaps not immediately recognizable as such):

Boxcar Children
Hardy Boys definitely long-time favorites, also the other flavors (Rick Brant, Three Investigators, Tom Swift Jr., and let’s be honest, Nancy Drew was from the exact same mold more or less)
The Wheel of Time
Pretty much all the spinoff Star Wars novels up until a few years ago (the occasional look I’ve taken into where plots are going lately suggests it’s gone far from its best in e.g. the Thrawn Trilogy)

In recent reading I picked up I, Robot when passing through an airport recently, which has been thought-provoking for the first hundred-odd pages I’ve read so far. I’m eighty pages or so into The Moon is a Harsh Mistress progressing very slowly amongst other reading, on the second library renewal thus far. I’m mostly reading it because it’s something I hadn’t gotten to reading, but the impetus to pick it up was Moe several months back.

I’d already started becomming a Sci Fi junky, having read a lot of the Asimov books, some Bradbury (yuck!), and of Andre Norton, and Heinlein’s “Glory Road”. That one I categorized as a “good read”, and the next week I checked out “Starship Troopers”.

Wow, what an eye opener. This was at a time and a place where everyone around me (including teachers and the news media) were trying to tell me that my father’s values were all wrong. Turns out that duty, honor, and country aren’t just empty words. Who knew?

I went on to read everything I could by Heinlein. Unlike many people, I was dissapointed with “Stranger”, but I was probably one of the few people who enjoyed “Number of the Beast”, and “I Will Fear No Evil”, and I practically memorized Noteboods of Lazarus Long in Time Enough For Love.

is a distant cousin.

Trying to nail down which books and/or authors would be a herculean task — so many, so many. My parents bought 101 Classics in paperback when I was about 12 and I had most of them read by the time I reached high school.

Three books that I have read the MOST often:

Atlas Shrugged
Exodus
Battlefield Earth

Early influences:

Isaac Asimov
Robert Heinlein
Leon Uris
JRR Tolkien

thousands of books to choose from…

…was written by a teenager, and always seems to strike a chord with teens.

I grew up in Tulsa in the 60′s & 70′s, where the book was set, and the culture of “socs and greasers” & dragging South Peoria was still very much alive & well.

I got the unabridged collection of his works when I was a teenager as a gift from my grandfather. It’s HUGE! It made me see the funny side of life and taught me how to laugh when things go wrong.

C.S.Lewis
J.R.R. Tolkien
Ray Bradbury
Madeline L’Engle

“Ain’t I a Woman” by Sojourner Truth-I know, it’s not a book but it had a profound impact on my life. Love it still.

Hmmm….every Hardy Boys book ever written

Lous L’Amour for relaxation (grew up out west; his settings are always dead on); the notion of bravery and honor spun within the book version of a spaghetti western

Grade School – a whole slew of the “Landmark History” books (learned alot more from them then I ever did in History Class)

“Heavier” stuff – Anything by Lewis, ‘specially the Screwtape Letters

Free to Choose and the Road to Serfdom as seminal readers on economics

The “Gulag” series;

“Beyond All Hope” by Valladares (sp?)…an absolutely gripping and horrifying tale of the evils visited uponf those who dared to resist in the ‘People’s Paradise’ of Castro’s Cuba that The One now feels compelled to suck up to.

The Art of War by Sun YatSen

Paul Johnson’s tome on American History and…..

Atlas Shrugged

So many more to go

City of God by Augustine of Hippo
Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton

I discovered Catton just a few months ago after reading one of his books (mainly they were written in the 60s). I now own at least 8 of his books, mostly found online at second-hand bookstores and they are now household treasures.

The most refreshing thing about Catton is that he wrote before there were ‘politically correct’ pressures for scholars to discuss political influences on the war that simply did not obtain at that time. Even reading ‘conservative’ historians today, one is struck by how diligently they labor to be politically correct by comparison.

He assessments of Meade, Halleck, and most of Grant’s other predecessors are refreshing and honest.

To that I would add all of C.S. Lewis’ non-fiction, especially when it discusses man’s relationship to God and to evil.

Remember those who have fallen (and not just into right-wing extremism!) for our country over the many rich years our history.

Last night, because my wife asked me about it, I noted that many of our soldiers, from the revolution onward, were foreign nationals and that our Army has always been glad to accept foreign nationals as US soldiers. We still do. Many of them fell for our country too, because they saw the US as the shining light of freedom for the entire world.

Let’s keep that in mind as our homeland CEO talks with a straight face about ‘preventive detention’ and ‘long term detention’ on US soil.

Strange Stories, Amazing Facts: Stories That are Bizarre, Unusual, Odd, Astonishing, and Often Incredible (Hardcover)
by Reader’s Digest editors (Editor)

http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Stories-Amazing-Facts-Astonishing/dp/0895770288

I know it may sound odd that this collection of the strange and mysterious is my choice as a life changer, but to the 10 yr old BBK in 1978 Deep South this book was a portal to another time and world. Later in adult life it would be the inspiration for world travel, spiritual exploration, and eventually how I met my beautiful wife.

I read prolifically with the book count in the thousands- I have no doubt read deeper and more profound works, but this wonderful book put my imagination into overdrive like no other. From what I’ve seen in blogs, apparently I am not the only kid that got set upon a destined path by this book

I was just thinking of many books assigned in school that would never be allowed today.

Deathwatch by Robb White was just an awesome read for a seventh grader. Its one of those books that can get a kid hooked on reading. I cant imagine any school district allowing that book anymore.

Many districts wont assign Huck Finn anymore because its considered racist.

Free to Choose – Friedman
Reading Lolita in Tehran -Nafisi
Atlas Shrugged – Rand
Ishmael – Quinn
Watership Down – Adams
To Kill a Mockingbird – Lee
Of Human Bondage – Maugham

Beach reads are anything by Clive Cussler before he started having co-authors. I am wilding in love with Dirk Pitt.

His Future History series was probably my favorite of his. Time Enough for Love was probably the capper of the Lazarus Long series, whose notebooks have some quotes that fit pretty well for our times. Some of them are:

Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it!

Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect.

If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.

Most “scientists” are bottle washers and button sorters.

A “pacifist male” is a contradiction in terms. Most self-described “pacifists” are not pacific; they simply assume false colors. When the wind changes, they hoist the Jolly Roger.

A generation which ignores history has no past—and no future.

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.

The first time I was a drill’ instructor I was too inexperienced for the job–the things I taught those lads must have got some of them killed. War is too serious a matter to be taught by the inexperienced.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity!

Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure “good” government; it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare–most people want to run things but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the “backseat-driver syndrome.”

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.

What a wonderful world it is that has girls in!

A woman is not property, and husbands who think otherwise are living in a dreamworld.

Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.

A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain.

An elephant: A mouse built to government specifications.

I don’t agree with all of Long’s notes, some of his opinions on religion are not to my liking, but I seldom see eye to eye with all of a favorite author’s opinions. To me, it just adds flavor to the book and makes it more enjoyable.

Then there’s Tolkien. I discovered his books around the late 70′s and have been hooked ever since. Fantasy and sci-fi is my favorite genre, although Jack London was a favorite too in my younger days. These days I look to Rush’s 2 books and sites like this to help me fight the good fight against liberal ideology and yesterday I got Liberty and Tyranny.

But it’s the Bible that keeps me grounded and out of trouble. It helped build the foundation of this country that, sadly, so many want to undermine. It is the root of morality which so many want to redefine. I pray for this country and may God bless her and help her find her way back to those principles.

Another Lazarus Long quote, I believe.

Is probably my all time favorite. People should read it today-it’s helpful to understand that corner of the world.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes-reread it many times, I think my sense of patriotism started with that book.

Atlas Shrugged-Ayn Rand
Lord of the Rings-Tolkien

And of course Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.

the books I remember most from chilhood are The Boxcar Children books. From my adult life Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen both of which I highly, highly recommend.

Four books read in concert have changed the way I view the world…technological trends, geopolitics, demographics, globalization and how they all interact.

The Pentagon’s New Map–Thomas P.M. Barnett
The World is Flat–Thomas Friedman
The Age of Spiritual Machines–Ray Kurzweil
America Alone–Mark Steyn

Seems an odd combination and it took me a while to realize that those four books together taint the way I view every news story I read and every political speech I hear.

For example, I hear that in the future, wars will be fought over resources like oil or even fresh water (many times used in conjunction with an argument about globalization being bad). This argument totally discounts the exponential growth of technology which will solve the resource problems before they become a problem (remember Ehrlich’s Population Bomb).

I could go on, but I read these books as part of my second Masters degree, so, even though your kids, bs, are in high school and college, it’s not a bit too late. Just depends on the quality of the education they’re getting I suppose.

“The Land They Fought For”
was a threshold boiok for me. Through it, I researched R.E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson after my son returned home after a day of “History” where he told me “Yea Dad, basically the South was bad and the North was good. It was all over slavery” With that…we proceeded to check out any and all books on the civil war. One of the best things we did as Father/Son.

The Bible
The Screwtape Letters
The Pilgrim’s Progress – awesome
In His Steps – really made me think

What Wives Wish Their Husband’s Knew About Women
Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives – a single binding with both books. Straight Talk really helped me to mature

This Present Darkness – the book that reveals where the real battle lies

This Hallowed Ground
The Killer Angels
A Rumor of War
Take Her Deep

Wedge – after 9-11

Salem’s Lot – didn’t shape my life but I wanted to hang garlic around my room.

…the most influential, because I discovered it as an adult, but anyway:

Dostoyevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”.

From Book V, “Pro and Contra”, “The Grand Inquisitor”:

“Oh, never, never will they feed themselves without us! No science will give them bread while yet they are free, but the end of it will be that they will bring us their freedom and place it at our feet and say to us: ‘Enslave us if you will, but feed us.’”

and:

“I tell you, man has no preoccupation more nagging than to find the person to whom that unhappy creature may surrender the gift of freedom with which he is born.”

(Penguin Books, translation by David McDuff)

Although the parable focusses upon Jesus, Christianity, moral responsibility and freewill, it has always seemed to me that it is easily adaptable to the responsibilities of citizenship in a politically free society. The founders established for us a system of government designed to allow us great personal freedom, along with its enormous, concomitant responsibilities, only to have great numbers among subsequent generations do everything in their collective power to see that these freedoms are undermined (“Enslave us if you will, but feed us”), to ensure that they are allotted their “loaves”. Dostoyevsky’s understanding of human nature and its immutable weaknesses and desires was acute.

Inicidentally, Laura Bush, a number of years ago, was asked by the Wall Street Journal to write an article about her five favorite books. “The Brothers Karamazov”, if I remember correctly, was at the top of her list. She said that she rereads it every year.

……….had a little trouble with the russian names the first time thru it, but got them straight eventually…..

and, let me say, i am happy to see watership down on several lists here….every day, i am tempted to shout “silflay hraka, u embleer rah!” at the television…..

i would like to add a few strange ones now….here they are:

the last unicorn – peter s beagle

the book of the dun cow – walter wangerin jr

jane eyre – charlotte bronte

and finally…. terry pratchett’s disc world series…..the early ones are just silly, but the later ones ROCK…..

also, i am one of at least four people i know who are currently re-reading, or re-re-reading etc atlas shrugged….why, i do not know, it’s not like i need help getting aggravated these days……

………………:)

Then Tolkien’s books.
Then Dune
Then Narnia

including the Apocrapha was such a part of the culture of my childhood that it ought not to count. That would mean that my first really influential book was Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare which I devoured in the second grade. The long term result was that I read the entire Shakespearean opera before I finished grade school. I am still hooked on sonnets whatever the century or the language.

The next one was Nicolo Machiavelli’s Discourses which was part of the Modern Library edition of the The Prince and the Discourses. My maternal grandfather turned me on to that one.

In high school I discovered Walter Langland’s The Vision of Piers the Plowman which led me to the fourteen century English mystics, especially the anonomyous The Cloud of Unknowing and Hilton’s The Ladder of Perfection. These led to Wakeman’s The History of the Church of England. This lead to reading John Jewel’s Apology for the Church of England, Richard Hooker’s The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity and the works of Andrewes, Donne and Laud. But the best was George Herbert’s A Priest to the Temple.

All of the above brought me to C. S. Lewis, and while I appreciate his Mere Christianity, my favorites are his novels, That Hideous Strength and Till We Have Faces. The latter is particularly powerful. But Lewis leads you to the Inklings, i.e., Charles Williams and J. R. R. Tolkien, but also to Dorothy Sayers whose translation of Dante’s Comedia and the Song of Roland are among my all time favorites. Her mystery novels and plays, especially the radio play, The Man Born To Be King, are excellent.

When it comes to American political works, I prefer the writings of the anti-federalists to those of the federalists, but believe that all of both should be required reading in school.

I am a great fan of Madilene L’Engle’s childrens books and was lucky enough to be at the breakfast table when John Farrar of Farrar, Straus and Giroux took it f rom her hands to publish it. I have given them with Lewis’s Narnia books to all of my grandchildren. But even more is Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons with its sequels. They are wonderful.

written by Christian author Max Lucado. Lucado explains that each person has certain talents and certian likes and the place where the two meet is the place that you should do your life’s work. If anyone is unsure what they want to be when they grow-up (even if you are already grown like I was when I read it) it is an excellent read.

…made me want to become a writer. My need for a paycheck made me take my writing to advertising.

As a kid, I remember staring at the detailed battle illustrations in Catton’s “Golden Book” for hours. When I was eight years old, my family drove from California to the East Coast and visited Gettysburg and other Civil War battlegrounds – I remember wanting to chat constantly during one battleground visit and my Dad, a Navy veteran from a career Navy family, telling me to be silent and listen with reverence . . . a transformational moment in my life.